you probably know that the word french comes from frank, and that the franks were a german-speaking people that invaded the empire in the year 406, in the event known as the "crossing of the rhine".

but, much like the surprise attack in 367, the franks were not a "tribe" so much as they were a confederacy. 

historians today do not think that the franks were an ethnic group at all. rather, frank is a german word that translates to free.

it seems as though it was, rather, a confederacy of "freemen" bent on abolishing the empire once and for all.

this is a theme throughout the roman occupation of western europe, and he gets the point across - rome could only hold these lands via massive occupation forces, and they would consistently revolt the moment the romans left.

you'll never see it written in any history book, but the clues are clear enough.

the fact is that the germans were met through much of europe, perhaps even in italy, as liberators, and not as barbarians - and that this repeated itself a thousand years later, when the vikings swooped down and burned the monasteries, who were exacting punitive taxes and enforcing brutal laws.

like i say: i'd make the point clearer.

but, it's not that bad.

and, i don't know what's next. 

i should listen to the incan episode, first.

i was expecting this to be staunchly pro-roman propaganda, and it certainly leans that way, but it's not that bad; it at least gets the point across about rome being an empire, and the inhabitants in britain being unwilling, colonized subjects. in fact, there were frequent revolts in all of the celtic heartlands (britain and modern day spain, france and germany), not just britain. i've spoken before of the celtic genocide at the hands of the romans, but the last remnants of celtic civilization were mostly subsumed by the dominant german tribes, as they moved into the region as allies of the indigenous celts. the celts became german, when they would not become roman.  

these revolts were frequent, widespread and nationalistic in character. this is so often glossed over and denied entirely by the official church histories of western europe, but it is the actual truth - rome was always a mediterranean empire, with few willing subjects north of the alps, or west of the rhone. this idea of western europe as inherently roman is just flat out wrong. while i would have focused more on the broader nature of the celtic revolts against imperial rule, the fact that he mentions it at all is non-standard and appreciated. the anglican church would hate this.

so, i don't have the reaction i was expecting.

i just want to point something out though - hadrian didn't realize that britain was an island. that's really why that wall is there - it walled off an unknown land to the north, of unknown size with unknown inhabitants. they could never be sure that there wasn't a giant landmass, with millions of barbarians. they decided they didn't want to find out....

it was a short month, but i've got the four blogs consolidated for dec, 2017 - including copying items from youtube directly to the blogs:

1) https://dsdfghghfsdflgkfgkja.blogspot.com/2017/12/

2) https://jessicamurraytravelblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/

3) https://deathtokoalas.blogspot.com/2017/12/

4) https://musicofjessicamurray.blogspot.com/2017/12/

i'm almost done with this fall of civilizations thing (and i'm not sure what's next...), and i just want to make a brief comment on his concept of climate change.

the idea that climate causes civilizations to fall is pretty standard, nowadays. there's nothing obscure about that, and the same science that helps us understand climate change helps us piece together how changes in the climate may have affected different settlements. so, the premise is sound.

but, you can tell that the narrator has at some point entertained some less than ideal sources, as he tends to reference things that you don't hear legitimate scientists talk much about, in ways that sound like climate denial.

but, i haven't caught him say anything wrong yet. so, i don't have anything to add except a little caution that the source sounds compromised, without providing any definitive data that it actually is.

so, for example, he talked about the "medieval warm period" and the "little ice age" during the cambodian episode, which made me cringe. these things happened, but they were not global events - they were examples of regional climate variations restricted strictly to northern europe. nothing of the sort would have been apparent in far away cambodia, so it's really not appropriate to drop the language in those terms. but, when he actually worked out the climate effects, he point to relevant tree ring and ice core samples, and there wasn't anything to really correct him on - except the language he used, and the fact that it made it clear his background isn't in science.

so, he might fuck this up still.

but, he hasn't yet.

some caveats are consequently required. but, i've pointed out before that the interdisciplinary nature of the videos is actually fairly developed, and he's broadly doing a pretty good job, in the context of what he's broadcasting he's doing - a series of short films about the rise and collapse of various historical cultures.

if you put the god hypothesis and the alien hypothesis beside each other and compare them, it is the god hypothesis that strikes me as so ridiculous that it should be discarded without further thought and the alien hypothesis that strikes me as likely enough to warrant further investigation.

if you want to talk about aliens with me, you have to start with ejecting the idea that this is something paranormal or supernatural. to me, the whole basis of finding the idea of extra-terrestrial existence interesting is that it provides a naturalistic explanation for a large amount of history that we otherwise have to discard as utter nonsense.

if there are creatures born somewhere else in the universe, and they have evolved to live for hundreds or thousands of years, and they have managed to develop long-lived craft, and can even live and breed on them, then what, exactly, is paranormal or supernatural about that? it's entirely consistent with a darwinian concept of the natural universe.

and, again, that's the point, or at least it is to me; it helps me make sense of religion, in a way which i've never been able to otherwise get my head around.

it would be useful if we had a little more positive evidence. but, we may find out one day that all the evidence was right in front of us.

that will take me from mid 2003 to mid 2005, although period 3 will hang over until late 2006.

i was posting this yesterday evening before i crashed...

this is just a reminder as to what is coming up directly, soon. if you've forgotten, or never knew. i need to set the pc back up first to review my notes and make sure everything is in order, but...

1) inri075.  this was written in kelowna in 2003. it ends up as the start of the interplanetary isomorphism, but the purpose of inri075 will be to collect the sound created in mid to late 2003. this will mostly be posted as is.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/kelowna

2) inri076. the lost symphony. this was written over 2003 while waiting around in various disparate places - bus shelters, back alleys, wilderness escapes, apartments, etc. it will segue between reflections and the interplanetary isomorphism, finishing my eighth record. this is going to be a major recording project and will probably take much of the summer.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/the-lost-symphony

3) inri077. this is an ep of cassette demos recorded in sarah's bedroom. i will mostly post it as is.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/bedroom-cassette-demoes

4) inri078. this is a demo that is already uploaded as is.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/art-show-demo

5) inri079 needs to be checked for current data, but is otherwise my completed 7th record.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/ftaa

6) inri080 & inri081 are listed on my hard drive. there may be an 'inri records' compilation in there, and perhaps a second compilation, as well. or, was it something to do with impressionist jazz punk? there are some tracks from inri086 that were written in the summer of 2004, and i think i wanted to 

take note of that.

7) inri082. the interplanetary isomorphism, itself, which is mostly done:

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/interplanetary-isomorphism

8) inri083 is listed on my hard drive. it may be the previous impressionist jazz punk disc. or it may be the cycles per second disc, but this would be mislabeled.

9) inri084 is the first cycles per second ep. this is done.:

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/the-spontaneous-combustion-of-leonardo-pisano

10) this is likely inri085, and will be a serious recording project:

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/throatmotor-fragment

11) inri086. these are demos, and they're being released as is:

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/impressionist-jazz-punk

12) inri087 is the next symphony, xenophanes, and is mostly done:

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/xenophanes

13) inri088 will then be done,which is my 9th & 10th lps.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/e

if i can get this done, i'll want to stop and refocus.

today's post is inri008.

===

my recollection of the initial recording of this track is unfortunately somewhat vague. when we push our memories like i'm trying to, we become more likely to imagine the past in terms that never actually existed. so, how real is this vague memory of wanting to hear some backwards guitars? i fear that it's perilous to try and force my mind to be more specific. 

it's at least fully consistent with what i know about the situation. this was initially the second track recorded in my basement studio in the fall of 1996. so, i was still at the point where i was looking to try things in the studio for the first time. as for backwards guitars? i was very interested in both zappa and hendrix (two of my biggest guitar influences) at the time, and that is actually blatantly obvious if you listen to inri000. they both used backwards guitars. there are multiple occasions on inri000 (and afterwards...) where the nods to both of these players are beyond heavy-sleeved. so, my vague memory at the very least makes sense. 

how i made the jump from trying to create a backwards guitar solo to turning a song into a palindrome is another question and i don't really have a good answer besides stumbling upon it as i was listening to it. clearly, it is the case that this struck me as a good idea at some point along the way. 

when i went to recreate the track in early 1998, i felt the need to recreate the palindrome effect. so, i never saved any version of the track in forward order (without the backwards overdub) or released it in any kind of way. for all these years, there has simply never been a forwards version of the track. 

the remastering process over 2015 has finally given me the opportunity to create a forwards version and spin it off as a single for the express reason of documenting the track as it was actually initially written, which was as a fairly straight forward alternative pop song. that's a description that i do believe is very old. yet, i may be imagining the past, too... 

the new album mix is a palindrome, as it always has been. the electronics mix is constructed using the same algorithm. the backwards mix is just literally that. combined together, the forwards and backwards mixes create the album version. the 2013 remasters are appended as bonuses. 

initially written in 1996. recreated in feb, 1998. a failed rescue was attempted in 2013. reclaimed june 29, 2015. remixed july 15, 2015. compiled on jan 4, 2016. finalized on july 11, 2016. bonus tracks added and re-finalized on july 18, 2016. as always, please use headphones. 

the album version of this track appears on my second record, inriched (inri021): jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inriched 

regarding the subject matter of the deleted vocals/lyrics, please see the following vlog (which is also available on inriℵ6): 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuhdwde1YKI&t=895s 

this recording is a part of the following collections: 

1) inriℵ0: jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/flac-dvd-disc-volume-1 

2) inriℵ2: jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inriched-box-set 

3) inriℵ4: jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/mp3-dvd-disc-volume-1 

5) inriℵ6: jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/period-1 

6) inriℵ17: jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/flac-bd-disc-volume-1 

this release also includes a printable jewel case insert and will also eventually include a comprehensive package of journal entries from all phases of production (1996, 1998, 2013, 2015, 2016). 

released february 11, 1998 

j - guitars, effects, bass, drum programming, digital wave editing, loops, vocals, drum kit, tapes, production